Long ago, a
great number of rats dwelt in a dilapidated building full of rat holes
close to mountain-stream. They collected lot of foodstuffs in the holes
from the neighboring groceries shop and welt in apparent peace. The
mountain-stream suddenly swelled one day and the flood-waters washed away
all the rats dwelling in the holes. They died almost instantaneously and
floated along the water. But one rat managed to scramble onto a huge log
of wood that came along with the wave. Finally, the log was washed ashore
and the blessed rat alone was safely deposited on the sandy bank of the
river while the others perished. Similarly,
The mountain-stream is compared to this terrible samsara with waves of
Raga-Dvesha. This dilapidated house (earth) full of rats (human beings) in
rat holes (towns, villages and cities). The people becomes busy in
greedily gathering the objects of this world unconscious of the terrible
stream of Raga-Dvesha. Finally, all perish except the one who got onto the
huge log of wood i.e., Bhakthi. This blessed soul quickly stands upon
the log of wood (Bhakthi) and finally reaches to the shore of Immortality
unaffected by the current of Raga-Dvesha.

The pleasure one
gets through physical, mental and intellectual pursuits is transitory.
"Yogashemam Vahamyaham"
does not mean that the Lord will ensure for you happiness and joy but it
means that he endow you with steady unshakable peace and inner equanimity.
Yoga means the acquisition of that which do not have and kshema means the
preservation of that which you have acquired. So, Lord will ensure that
you acquire the Shanthi (inner peace) that you do not have and create
conditions under which you can preserve that Shanthi. You can get this greatest happiness
(inner peace) by knowing that you are the Aathma which has no birth or
death, no joy or grief. Aathma is the underlying source of all the anandha
that the jeevi experiences. Become aware of the God in you and God in all
to attain the real joy and peace.

The sadhaka must
culture the mind as the farmer does culture the field. The farmer has to
clear the field of thorny undergrowth, wild creepers and tenuous roots. He
has to plough the land, water it and sow the seeds well and guard the
seedlings, tender plants from insect pests as well as from the cattle by
putting up a fence. So too, a sadhaka has to remove egoism, pride and
greed from the heart; do the ploughing and leveling of sathya, japa,
dhyana (truth, repetition of Lord's name and meditation); soak the heart
with prema and make it soft and rich; fence of discipline is built to
safeguard the seedling (namajapa) and tender plant (bhakthi) from the
cattle i.e., kama and krodha. Finally, the sadhaka will enjoy the harvest
i.e., anandha. Your heart
must be pure and the mind must be clear to grasp the fact and get faith
that God only is the creator, protector and annihilator of this universe.

Drive the
intellect, the mind and the senses from inside but do not try to guide
them from outside. Do not seek more and more sukham but seek more and more
jnanam. The desire enters the consciousness softly, silently and holds out
prospects of pleasure and joy and finally results in loss of contentment
and peace. The mind is stuffed with desires and it takes on the form of
the desire that fills it. The task of the jnani (man of realisation) is
Mano Nasanam i.e.,wiping out all traces of the mind. The technique of Mano nasanam
(destroying the mind) is to remove the desire one by one like you remove
the yarn from the cloth or like you remove air (Nirvana means without air)
from football so that it will not move from place to place.

Board the train
of saalokya (constant thought of Godhead) that will take you to the
stations, saameepya(nearness to God) and saaruupya (Earn divine
attributes). Do not give up
your journey until you reach your terminus where ignorance dies and jnana
is born. Never get down in
the middle stations even though Calumny, scandal, loss, dishonour,
poverty, distress, fame, pomp and triumph call on you to alight. Finally, you reach the terminus,
saayujya i.e.,the individual Aathma is experienced as a wave of the ocean
of Paramaathma.

Death is the
removal of the soiled shirt and Birth is putting on the fresh one. Let the
divine mother do this for you. Have full faith in her love and wisdom and
be a child in her hands. Be an instrument and submerge your will in the
will of the Lord that will save you from worry and pain.